By now it’s a commonplace that AI is reshaping how information is created, accessed, and consumed in business. Because this has some very specific implications for the tech advisory industry, we believe it is important to be transparent about how Moor Insights & Strategy uses AI tools — and how we don’t.
For 15 years, our firm has always been grounded in trust, practitioner expertise, and original insight. That foundation doesn’t change in the age of AI. If anything, it becomes even more important. Our core belief is simple: AI can enhance how we work, but it cannot replace the operating judgment, experience, and conviction that define our analysts, their insights and advisory, and their research.
Real-World Operating Experience Defines Us
Our differentiation has always been rooted in real-world experience. Our analysts have led strategy, product, technology, and business operations, and have managed technology planning and purchasing. AI can process vast amounts of information quickly. But it cannot replicate the context, accountability, and decision-making experience gained from operating inside complex organizations — nor can it replace the value of a timely and context-rich advisory conversation. As Patrick likes to say, in his years as a tech executive he had to make the tough decisions and live with the results. That human perspective remains at the center of everything we deliver.
How We Use AI at Moor Insights & Strategy
We use AI deliberately as a tool to enhance, not replace, our work. AI helps us:
- Access, synthesize, and cite our accumulated insights
- Stoke our curiosity about connections across technology categories
- Improve efficiency in research preparation
- Selectively explore as we vibe-code potential new research methodologies and products
This is already helping us deliver even better research. We’re using AI to cross-reference MI&S analysts’ published positions across 69,000-plus indexed MI&S items. And our analysts now use AI to pressure-test their positions against a broad dataset (which does not include research from other analyst firms) before publishing. That means our analysis gets sharper.
When speed is the priority, AI is also helping us to deliver faster. Prep work such as reviewing our prior research on a topic or assembling updated financial context on a company is now compressed, freeing analysts to spend more time on high-value interpretation.
We are equally clear about the boundaries. MI&S analysts do not — and will not — use AI to:
- Define our analytical theses or strategic conclusions
- Replace primary source analysis or verification
- Substitute for our experience-based convictions and perspectives
- Generate publishable insights without human review, validation, and accountability
Every piece of research we produce reflects independent interpretation first. Our analysts form their points of view before engaging AI tools, not after. Final outputs are always reviewed, validated against primary sources, and owned by the analyst whose name is on the work. That’s true for what we deliver to our advisory clients, and it’s true of every piece we publish on this site.
Our Standards for Integrity and Trust
We have implemented clear principles within MI&S to ensure AI strengthens our work:
- Human-first analysis — Insight originates with our analysts, not machines
- Verification discipline — All data and claims are validated against primary sources
- Client confidentiality — We do not input non-public or client-restricted information into AI systems
- Tool governance — Only approved, enterprise-grade AI tools are used in our work
- Analyst accountability — The named analyst is fully responsible for every conclusion we publish
These guardrails allow us to use AI aggressively where it adds value, without compromising analytical rigor or client trust.
Our Commitment
We view AI as an amplifier for what makes Moor Insights & Strategy valuable: original, additive, defensible insight grounded in real operating experience. It’s also an important area for continued hands-on exploration so we can better understand what our clients are facing and how we can help. We will continue to evolve our approach as the technology advances — and we will remain transparent as we do.
Patrick Moorhead
CEO, Founder, and Chief Analyst
Erin Zehr
President
